Friday, November 05, 2010

The Last Dance

The last surviving original Pacific coast League team is moving. The Portland Beavers was purchased by a group headed by Jeff Moorad of the San Diego Padres. According to a blurb in the spokesman-Review, the team will play in Tucson, Arizona next year.

The team has played continuously in Portland since 1902. The original teams prior to major league teams either moving to the coast, such as the former Brooklyn dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, from New York, and Oakland or expansion teams, i.e. San Diego,Anaheim and Seattle.

Original teams that existed until major league expansion or moves, were the Seattle Rainiers, Portland Beavers, Oakland Acorns, San Francisco Seals, Sacremento Solons, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and the Hollywood Stars.

(From Portland's website)

"Beavers HistoryWhen Henry Harris, president of the San Francisco club of the outlaw California League, visited Portland in December 1902, it was the beginning of a chain of events that continue to this day. Harris convinced the Portland club to quit the Pacific Northwest League and jump to his fledgling Pacific Coast League. The two leagues went head-to-head in five West Coast cities, but the PCL won out and became a recognized league in 1904."

For us old farts, (we prefer traditionalists) it would appear that nothing in history is sacred. There is still a PCL, but none of the teams are from the coast. They range all over the west and southwest, even including Round Rock, Texas.